I am a 22 year old male who began weight lifting two years ago to get into shape. The problem is, I'm still not in shape. I can lift huge amounts of weight but instead of having a chiseled body, I still look like a fat guy. I mean, I'm big and strong, but I look like I was sculpted from lard(I'm 5'11 and 215 lbs.) I do roughly 30 minutes of aerobic activity and about 90 minutes on the weights. Should I change my activity and diet to get leaner? -No desire to be lard-boy

It sounds like your efforts have helped you build muscle, but from what you describe there is some fat over the muscle. If this is actually the case, to see the muscle, you need to lose some of the fat. Information you need to think about is how many days a week you go to the gym, what you do for aerobic activity, how much your weight and body composition (amount of muscle and fat) has changed and what you eat. Once you've compiled this information, you might make an appointment to talk to a nutritionist by calling 4-2284.

Try diversifying your two hours at the gym to an hour each of aerobic activity and weight training. The aerobic activity tends to burn fat, while the weight training builds muscle. Do enough weight training to maintain the muscle you already have, while increasing aerobic activity to lose fat. If fat is lost, the muscle will become more visible, even if the amount of muscle does not increase.

Since Alice does not know what you eat, it is difficult to recommend changes. You may want to make small decreases in your portion sizes. Fat intake is getting lots of attention, but for a healthy diet, fat intake should be low, but not non-existent.

Alice

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